This New Year, a group of students in Bhopal have taken a unique resolution: to work towards ‘saving the Constitution’.
Holding a demonstration against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act outside the old city, 60 students gathered at a public square on Wednesday to reject the Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC). They were surrounded by police personnel and a riot-control vehicle. “We take the pledge to struggle for the betterment of society, envisioned by Khusrau and Kabir. We take the pledge to make ineffective all conspiracies to toy with the foundations of the Constitution,” the students resolved.
Nabeelah Siddiqui, a student of clinical psychology, said, “Using my education and armed with facts, I will work towards persuading people to see how the country is in peril.”
This will make them speak up,” said Ms. Siddiqui, 21, on Wednesday, the first day of the new year. “Psychology has taught me there is nothing you can’t change in the human mind. Nothing lies permanent there.”
Stating that the Act has threatened the Constitution, Ms. Siddiqui said: “Education should make students grow, enabling them to comprehend issues around them. And it’s our duty to spread awareness among others so that their horizons expand.”
Encouraging students to join in, Samiya Akhtar, a B.Ed student, said, “First, we need to understand our rights and duties, only then impart them to others. We plan to take up an awareness drive on the Constitution in slums from next week.”
The movement should not be restricted to Muslims and the poor, said Obaid Anwar, 23, an MBA graduate. “Everyone wants to stay together, and no one wants any particular community to be targeted,” he added.
